Fairly powerful PC which will not age quickly

[ano je]

Hi there,

I hope this is the best way in which to ask if I'm going for too much and what other options I might look at.

My aim is to mostly use the PC to go through a vast number of files & data at an instant, and something that'll easily last for the best part of a decade. In terms of gaming, the only thing I require is to able to load all of the leagues on Football Manager - (not massively bothered with the graphics), so if I've selected way too much than I need, please advise me.

Case CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 280X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900 (3.1GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® STRIX B360-I GAMING: Mini-ITX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card 8GB AMD RADEONTM RX 5700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive 2TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIESTM SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling Noctua NH-C14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans 2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on H310I-PLUS)
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online


Many thanks

 

[Oussebon]

What's the budget?

What monitor do you game on?

When you say "go through a vast number of files and data" what are we actually talking about? What do you do with the PC? What software, etc?

Does that software involve use of a dedicated graphics card?

 

[ano je]

What's the budget?

What monitor do you game on?

When you say "go through a vast number of files and data" what are we actually talking about? What do you do with the PC? What software, etc?

Does that software involve use of a dedicated graphics card?

Budget - Around £1200 would be ideal, happy to go up to £1500. Between £1500-£200 only if there's tremendous upside of longevity.
Monitor - I just use a Dell monitor with Dell PC at the moment; not so interested in incredible graphics - that would be easiest area to save cost, but I'm not sure what's compatible etc.
Files - Almost all documents, work documents, music files + video files (which I edit a fair amount), photos that I've gathered over the last 20 years. Already takes up about 70% of the storage on my Dell SSD. Searching for a particular file isn't exactly instant. (My assumption is that it'll only get slower as well). Football Manager is definitely the most demanding application that I use.
Graphics card - I don't have a special one - Nvidia GForce GTX 750 Ti is fine. (Would I be well overpaying for graphics which I don't require?)

Many thanks

 

[Oussebon]

What software do you use for editing videos, sorry? (and if you edit, rather than just listen to / look at photos/music - what software there?)

Apols for the questions, I'm asking to try to nail down what a good CPU + GPU option is, without overspending.

 

[ano je]

What software do you use for editing videos, sorry? (and if you edit, rather than just listen to / look at photos/music - what software there?)

Apols for the questions, I'm asking to try to nail down what a good CPU + GPU option is, without overspending.

Coral VideoStudio Ultimate for videos (would be great to know how much I could save if I weren't doing any video editing though)
Creative WaveStudio for music (not sure this uses too much CPU, more the amount of RAM when files are turned into WAV files - that's my attempt at trying to sound knowledge. If it's rubbish, please ignore )

Many thanks, really appreciate the help!

 

[Oussebon]

Cool. I put your spec into the configurator, and it came out around £1787.

NB: that spec has 3200MHz RAM, which the motherboard doesn't actually support (B360 only supports upto 2666MHz).

Here's an alternative:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: £1,451.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/uuX0czWjVW/

I'm assuming from your spec you like RGB lighting

Don't buy a mini ITX system. Buy an ATX ("normal size") system in a relatively small case. Mini ITX systems aren't actually very mini at all, and have a lot of drawbacks like less space in the case, fewer expansion slots, and sometimes they're more expensive too.
Corsair 280x: 398mm x 276mm x 351mm(Approx H x W x D) (Mini ITX)
Corsair 220T: 395mm x 210mm x 450mm (Approx H x W x D) (ATX)
NZXT H500: 460mm x 210mm x 428mm (Approx H x W x D) (ATX)

Instead of the i9 9900, buy the AMD R7 3700x. Cheaper, and near enough as fast. See comments here:

Check Spec

Hi, I need to use a variety of quite complex disability related software which tends to use up a lot of memory, power, processor time etc. I have 32Gb of memory I can move from my existing machine but I want something that is as quiet as possible. I also need to attach 3 monitors (bit blind)...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

You don't need a 5700XT for your uses - fairly casual video editing. Even a GTX 1660 is ample. And it's certainly more than ample for Football Manager.

Review the storage. Databases (including Football Manager) like fast storage. Your photo collection would load faster on an SSD. Your music collection and archived videos gain no benefit from being on an SSD. I'd suggest a fast NVMe SSD and HDD combination - HDD as cheap mass storage for those files that really don't need to be on an SSD.

To be honest, you may be able to drop the RAM down to 16gb. If your video and music hobbying is fairly casual, even if there were any benefit to more than 16gb, it might not be worth the expense.
You could also drop the CPU to an R6 3600 (the one without the X in the name) as you'd still have a very powerful CPU and save a further £150 or so.
You could also drop the GPU to a 1650 for further savings. It won't encode video as fast as a 1660, but if you're not overly bothered about that, it's fine for your uses.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/7vjKKn43Ku/ (£1153)

Or you could spend more. Up the motherboard to an X570-PLUS, which has PCIe 4.0, and up the SSD to the Corsair MP600.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/CxzDJG4K0D/ (£1563).

 

[ano je]

Cool. I put your spec into the configurator, and it came out around £1787.

NB: that spec has 3200MHz RAM, which the motherboard doesn't actually support (B360 only supports upto 2666MHz).

Here's an alternative:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: £1,451.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/uuX0czWjVW/

I'm assuming from your spec you like RGB lighting

Don't buy a mini ITX system. Buy an ATX ("normal size") system in a relatively small case. Mini ITX systems aren't actually very mini at all, and have a lot of drawbacks like less space in the case, fewer expansion slots, and sometimes they're more expensive too.
Corsair 280x: 398mm x 276mm x 351mm(Approx H x W x D) (Mini ITX)
Corsair 220T: 395mm x 210mm x 450mm (Approx H x W x D) (ATX)
NZXT H500: 460mm x 210mm x 428mm (Approx H x W x D) (ATX)

Instead of the i9 9900, buy the AMD R7 3700x. Cheaper, and near enough as fast. See comments here:

Check Spec

Hi, I need to use a variety of quite complex disability related software which tends to use up a lot of memory, power, processor time etc. I have 32Gb of memory I can move from my existing machine but I want something that is as quiet as possible. I also need to attach 3 monitors (bit blind)...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

You don't need a 5700XT for your uses - fairly casual video editing. Even a GTX 1660 is ample. And it's certainly more than ample for Football Manager.

Review the storage. Databases (including Football Manager) like fast storage. Your photo collection would load faster on an SSD. Your music collection and archived videos gain no benefit from being on an SSD. I'd suggest a fast NVMe SSD and HDD combination - HDD as cheap mass storage for those files that really don't need to be on an SSD.

To be honest, you may be able to drop the RAM down to 16gb. If your video and music hobbying is fairly casual, even if there were any benefit to more than 16gb, it might not be worth the expense.
You could also drop the CPU to an R6 3600 (the one without the X in the name) as you'd still have a very powerful CPU and save a further £150 or so.
You could also drop the GPU to a 1650 for further savings. It won't encode video as fast as a 1660, but if you're not overly bothered about that, it's fine for your uses.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/7vjKKn43Ku/ (£1153)

Or you could spend more. Up the motherboard to an X570-PLUS, which has PCIe 4.0, and up the SSD to the Corsair MP600.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/CxzDJG4K0D/ (£1563).

Many thanks for this information and the above options - really plenty of food for thought for me here.

If I may, let me respond to your suggestions:-

- About the lighting and the case, I really have no preference at all. I think because I'd selected gaming from the start, my options were narrowed from the beginning. Very happy to implement your suggestions for case.

- How is it determined which type of files are suited to SSD or HDD? Is it just that high resolution photos would load immediately on SSD? Just thinking out loud here - if I were to edit music/videos in the above setup, would I be right in thinking that moving the specific files from the HDD to the SSD before editing is the right move?

- Instead of getting purchasing a HDD, is it possible to put in one that I already own? (Toshiba SATA 2.0TB, 6GB/s) No idea whether that's possible, or if it's unwise for me to be messing around with the insides of it!

- Memory/Ram. I see that you've selected the 32GB (2x16) on the 2nd option. What benefit would the 64GB (4x16) provide? (I'm thinking in terms of my next point)

- Futureproof - I'm definitely willing to spend the £200-400 if it would guarantee more longevity. And this brings me to another question, am I undervaluing my current computer?

(64 bit)

I really don't have any perspective, so I'd like to know how much more powerful the 'GPU to a 1650 for further savings' option would be to what I'm already running now. Please let me know what other info you'd need to determine what I'm using now.

- I've never heard of PCle 4.0, but by what I'm reading about it, it seems that would be the more futureproof option available, or would it really not make that much difference for the next 5-10 years? I read something about it only being supported on the latest motherboards?

Once again, really appreciate any help given here. Thanks for your patience! Really good forum. I'll be recommending this site to a lot of people.

 

[Scott]

Coral VideoStudio Ultimate is not optimised at all for GPU usage so I would definitely lower the GPU and pocket the savings. If you want to invest in better software, it's likely that you would need to invest in a 2060 GPU as a minimum to get the benefits. The likes of Adobe etc have CUDA support but, unfortunately, the 1650/1660 are not supported at this time. Interestingly the 1050 does support this, and will support any acceleration that's possible on VideoStudio so that would be my suggestion. It will run footy manager just fine.

I would definitely pocket the savings on the RAM as well. I'm a hobbyist video editor, photo editor, etc. I have happily ran with 8GB on my system for 9 years (Upgraded this year). I now have 16GB and I've never once felt short on RAM in anything I have done. It's one of those red herring things for the most part. You will know if you need 32GB of RAM, never buy it because you think you might.

Even future state, you would be well into high level 4k video editing with effects etc before you would need to consider 32GB, never mind 64

Football manager relies heavily on single thread. With that in mind, and if it's important to you, I would definitely think about an Intel build. The budget will allow this.

AMD build - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/eX!ne9r4NJ/
Intel build - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/8kfErd68uu/ (£60 over budget with a focus on RGB)
Intel build - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/qGDjmfG!xb/ (inside budget, no focus on RGB)

 

[Oussebon]

Coral VideoStudio Ultimate is not optimised at all for GPU usage so I would definitely lower the GPU and pocket the savings.

It had been my understanding that it could encode on the GPU?

Also football manager does decently on Ryzen 3000. I looked up the community benchmark before posting.

Puget's recommendation for RAM is 32gb for 1080p projects. In view of their extensive and transparent hardware articles, I'd inclined to trust that. If proceeding on the basis that 16gb is 'fine' then an R7 3700x is also fine rather than a brutally expensive R9 for video editing, FM, etc

 

[Scott]

It had been my understanding that it could encode on the GPU?

Also football manager does decently on Ryzen 3000. I looked up the community benchmark before posting.

Puget's recommendation for RAM is 32gb for 1080p projects. In view of their extensive and transparent hardware articles, I'd inclined to trust that. If proceeding on the basis that 16gb is 'fine' then an R7 3700x is also fine rather than a brutally expensive R9 for video editing, FM, etc

There is a blurb from Coral that says it does but user-end noone can get it to work properly. Some found that enabling the method of hardware encoding actually slowed it down. Coral doesn't use CUDA, it uses a much more dated process and it's described as clunky at best. Noone on the forum could get the software to use the GPU to make any gains.

It does decently, no doubt (anything does), but when it comes to extensive league progress (database) over months the extra frequency from the Intel pays out dividends according to the forums. I wouldn't be against the Ryzen, that's for sure, it just depends how important the extra frequency is. The Intel is the best for FM, it's not a slim margin during heavy processing from what I understand.

I would never recommend any home user to plum for 32GB for the odd bit of fun video editing on something like Coral. It suggests to me the same level of editing as what I would do in my spare time. Home movies, trips, slideshows, hobbyist stuff. If it's at a professional level then 32GB would definitely be recommended, I just didn't get that feeling here. To add, I edit 4k and do various holiday videos for fun to show to friends and family. RAM has never been a shortcoming for me. I'm not editing over 3 screens with complex transitions though. The biggest improvement for me has been the introduction of a high end M2 drive.